Welcome to Small Business Ownership!
We would like to congratulate you on your new business and encourage you to take all the rights steps in the beginning of what we hope will be a very successful business for you. It is our opinion that there is no greater satisfaction than building something from the ground up with your own blood sweat and tears. Sure, it’s difficult and at times stressful, but there’s nothing quite like feeling of knowing you build something out of nothing.
Below you will find a short list of important items you will need to get your business started properly. Of course we’re here to help you every step of the way with signs, printing, marketing materials, promotional items, and yes of course the many years of experience we have to offer you through some valuable advice. 🙂
Important checklist of items when starting up a small business:
An effective, easy to read, easy to spell, easy to pronounce, easy to remember Company Name
An easy to read, brandable, well designed Logo
A Business Plan (even a basic one to start with, this might help: www.paloalto.com)
A solid understanding of your competition (where their advertising, what their strengths are as well as their weaknesses)
A solid understanding of your market (compile as much data as you can from as many different places as you can)
Get to know the mind of your customer and where they spend their time (both in person and on the internet)
A Marketing Plan (just a basic one to get you started will be sufficient)
Some impressively designed and printed Business Cards (because in most cases that business card is the only thing your potential customer has to remember you by. In most cases it’s in the stack of cards from your competitor, so you really need to stand out!)
A Website (even if it’s a simple one with just a list of your products and/or services, your contact information, and some form of call to action to get them to contact you)
A FREE Account at MailChimp.com so you can start building your mailing list.
Some Patience, Confidence, Motivation, and Persistence (because you won’t succeed in this small business without those!)
There are many more items you will need of course depending on the business you’re starting up, but those are the basics and what every business needs to get off to a good start.